Marya
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "bitter" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 1,846 living Americans carry the first name Marya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marya today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marya births was 1971 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marya. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 185,674 Americans
Peak year
1971
49 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,811
Tracked since 1909
Popularity
Marya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marya from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 388 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marya by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Marya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maryas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Marya, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marya
Marya is a given name with roots tracing back to ancient civilizations. The name originates from the Hebrew language, derived from the root word "Miryam" or "Mariam". In Hebrew, the name carries the meanings of "beloved", "wished-for child", and "bitter" or "beloved lady".
The name gained widespread popularity during the spread of Christianity, as it is the name of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, in various languages. In the New Testament of the Bible, the name appears as "Maria" in Greek, and later evolved into "Mary" in English.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marya dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was used for a wealthy Roman woman named Marya Antonia. In the 4th century, Saint Marya of Alexandria was a renowned Christian martyr who was executed for her faith during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.
Throughout history, the name Marya has been borne by several notable figures. In the 11th century, Marya of Alania was a Georgian queen consort and the wife of King Bagrat IV of Georgia. Marya Theresa of Spain (1638-1683) was a Spanish Infanta and the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain.
During the Renaissance period, Marya de' Medici (1573-1642) was an Italian noblewoman who became the Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV. Her life and political influence were significant during the reigns of her husband and her son, Louis XIII.
In the realm of literature, Marya Edgeworth (1768-1849) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and philanthropist, known for her novels depicting Anglo-Irish societal norms and manners. Marya Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), the author of the iconic novel "Frankenstein", was an English writer and a prominent figure in the Romantic literary movement.
In more recent times, Marya Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934), a Polish physicist and chemist, made groundbreaking contributions to the study of radioactivity and became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice.
People
Marya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,846 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marya going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 185,674 US residents.
Is Marya a common name?
We classify Marya as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marya most popular?
The single biggest year for Marya was 1971, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marya is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marya in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.